Plant stand #5: Corbels and bow-ties

Time to cover my mistakes with corbels. I cut the tenons first. It is easier to hold onto a longer workpiece. Below I’ve laid out the desired curves.

Here is how they are cut out on the band saw.

Here is how the will be positioned.

The pieces are too small to try to use a pattern and flush bit on the router table. So I use a drum sander kit on the drill press. This worked better and faster than I expected.

Here is a quick look at how the upper corbels will be positioned. The top extends far enough past the corbel and will look good.

The problem is the lower shelf. The plan was to have the shelf flush with the outside of the legs as shown in the drawing. If I use corbels to hide the extra mortises I’ll have to extend the shelf. I think this would distract from the over all appearance of the table.

So plans change. Instead of hiding my mistake on the lower legs with a corbel, I’ll use a butterfly or bow-tie inlay. I traced a pattern onto some walnut. Cut it out on the band saw. Just big enough to cover the misplaced mortise.

I labeled all of the joints as I cut them. I double and triple checked to make sure I’m putting the bow-ties over the “extra” mortises. I traced the bow-tie and cut the new mortise about 3/16” deep. Here I’ve glued in the inlay.

I use a low angle block plane to shave it down to the height of the surrounding surface.

I enjoy this type of work. I should screw things up more often.

I traced 2 of the bow-ties with a mechanical pencil. The other 2 I used a marking knife. The knife was far more accurate. I’ve got some small gaps in the mortises marked with the pencil. I squeezed glue into the gap and sanded over the area by hand. The saw dust gets pushed into the glued gap and makes a decent filler.